A network adapter is a piece of computer hardware providing an interface between a computing system and a network, such as a local area network (LAN) or storage area network (SAN). The network adapter enables computers to communicate over a network by controlling the transmission and receiving of data therebetween. A network adapter generally includes a control unit for controlling different processes performed by the adapter and firmware running on the adapter. A device driver enables a local operating system to communicate with the adapter. Network adapters may also be multi-protocol or converged adapters enabling communications according to different functions/protocols. For example, a single adapter may include both Fibre Channel (FC) host bus adapter and Ethernet network interface card (NIC) functionality. However, multi-protocol adapters are generally complex to manage and update (e.g., applying a firmware update).